How Two Ancient Olive Trees in Molise Help Fund Meals in New York

Summary

The Leoni di Carpineto, two ancient olive trees in Italy, pro­duce olive oil under the brand Pressure, with sales sup­port­ing Refettorio in Harlem. Through a col­lab­o­ra­tion with Gustiamo and Ghetto Gastro, the high-qual­ity oil is sold to fund meals for vul­ner­a­ble peo­ple, demon­strat­ing the impact of using resources for a good cause.

Nestled in the heart of Parco dei Buoi in Larino, in the cen­tral-south­ern Italian region of Molise, the Leoni di Carpineto (Lions of Carpineto) are two olive trees that date back more than 500 years. 

With their fruit, Francesco Travaglini pro­duces the extra vir­gin olive oil brand Pressure. The rev­enues from its sale sup­port Refettorio in Harlem, a New York City neigh­bor­hood out­reach that pro­vides food to vul­ner­a­ble peo­ple.

Thanks to a col­lab­o­ra­tion between Parco dei Buoi, Italian food importer Gustiamo and the culi­nary and cul­tural col­lec­tive Ghetto Gastro, 150 bot­tles of this high-qual­ity prod­uct are mar­keted at a pre­mium price to sup­ply the com­mu­nity kitchen with approx­i­mately 2,000 meals every year — each bot­tle pro­vid­ing the equiv­a­lent of at least a dozen meals.

Refettorio in Harlem is part of the non-profit cul­tural project Food For Soul, which chef Massimo Bottura and Lara Gilmore founded to com­bat food waste and pro­mote social inclu­sion.

Currently, 13 Refettorios oper­ate world­wide. Based in regen­er­ated spaces, they are com­mu­nity hubs equipped with kitchens, where socially and eco­nom­i­cally vul­ner­a­ble peo­ple are served nutri­tious meals made with qual­ity ingre­di­ents, includ­ing sur­plus food that would have oth­er­wise been thrown away.

“It is a great achieve­ment for us to bring relief to so many peo­ple with the olive oil pro­duced from these two olive trees that are a land­mark of our land,” Travaglini told Olive Oil Times, adding that their name was cho­sen because of their lush canopies and impos­ing fig­ures that tower over the land­scape of the ham­let of Carpineto.

The Pressure ini­tia­tive began four years ago when Gustiamo’s founder, Beatrice Ughi, orga­nized a visit to Travaglini’s farm with a group of guests, includ­ing chef Pierre Serrao.

Also known as Chef P, he is co-founder of the col­lec­tive Ghetto Gastro, which brings together food experts and enthu­si­asts, artists, entre­pre­neurs and activists. Its mis­sion is to com­bine gas­tron­omy and art, pro­mot­ing inclu­sion and eco­nomic empow­er­ment.

“At Gustiamo, we aim to cre­ate a net­work between our Italian pro­duc­ers, cus­tomers and friends in the United States,” Ughi said. ​“We orga­nize var­i­ous events to bring them together, and every year we visit one of our olive oil pro­duc­ers dur­ing har­vest.”

“We help the farm­ers pick olives, set up the nets, carry the fruit bins and more,” she added. ​“These hands-on expe­ri­ences allow us to demon­strate to American chefs the sig­nif­i­cance of work­ing the land and the chal­lenges Italian farm­ers face. This direct con­nec­tion with the farm­ers and their prod­ucts fos­ters a deep bond and high­lights the cru­cial rela­tion­ship between the land and the qual­ity of the prod­ucts it yields.”

During the farm visit, Travaglini pre­sented the Lions of Carpineto to the guests, point­ing out that he had started using their olive oil for non-profit pur­poses years ago.

“Before my wife Pia and I were mar­ried, dur­ing uni­ver­sity, we used to go back home to har­vest with our fam­i­lies, which at that time made oil for home con­sump­tion and whole­sale,” he recalled. ​“We always col­lected the Lion’s fruits at the end, which over time became a rite to con­clude the sea­son, even when later we founded the com­pany and focused on high qual­ity.”

Depending on the year, the two trees alone may yield up to 350 kilo­grams of olives, prompt­ing the Molisian farm­ers to set them aside to cre­ate a lim­ited-edi­tion pre­mium mono­va­ri­etal.

“Several years ago we met Joseph, affec­tion­ately called by every­body Peppino, and we became close friends,” Travaglini said. ​“From a vil­lage in [the West African coun­try of] Togo, he came to our coun­try to study, as an Italian fam­ily financed his edu­ca­tion.” 

“One day, he told us that a school in his birth­place had some issues, but there was no money to fix them,” he added. ​“Hence, we thought to sell the Lions’ olive oil and use the prof­its to help those peo­ple.”

With the char­ity sale, they raised €1,500. Peppino brought the money to his town, where he pur­chased books and sta­tionery for the school­child­ren and food for those in need.

“It was there that we decided to use the Lions’ olive oil for a good cause,” Travaglini said. 

He added that Peppino later grad­u­ated with a food sci­ence and tech­nol­ogy degree, became a researcher, and worked with impor­tant Italian com­pa­nies. Then, he returned to Africa, work­ing as a pro­fes­sor at a major uni­ver­sity and oper­at­ing in the food sec­tor.

Peppino’s ini­tia­tive gen­er­ated much empa­thy among the group. Thus, Travaglini pro­posed that Serrao do some­thing sim­i­lar to one of the projects car­ried out by Ghetto Gastro.

“Serrao came up with the idea to sup­port Refettorio, and I much appre­ci­ated that, since it is a place that pro­motes social cohe­sion and dig­nity based on the con­cept that sol­i­dar­ity can be made with­out for­get­ting qual­ity,” Travaglini said. ​“Gustiamo set the whole thing up, bring­ing together the actors and logis­tics.”

The extra vir­gin olive oil was named Pressure, a word that can be under­stood from var­i­ous per­spec­tives, from olive press­ing to the effort required to cre­ate a pos­i­tive social impact.

“Gustiamo and Chef P [Serrao] have been friends for many years, and we deeply admire his work,” Ughi said. ​“When he pro­posed donat­ing the pro­ceeds to Food for Soul, specif­i­cally to sup­port their Refettorio soup kitchen in Harlem, we were eager to get involved.” 

“Refettorio does out­stand­ing work in Harlem, bring­ing dig­nity to the act of eat­ing together, serv­ing high-qual­ity meals and pro­mot­ing food reuse,” she added. ​“This col­lab­o­ra­tion fills us with immense pride. We are very selec­tive about the prod­ucts we offer through Gustiamo and the peo­ple we col­lab­o­rate with, and if more oppor­tu­ni­ties like this arise, we would be thrilled to be part of them.”

Produced in the com­pany-owned mill at Parco dei Buoi, Pressure is a mono­va­ri­etal of Saligna di Larino, an autochtho­nous olive vari­ety mainly used as a pol­li­na­tor of Gentile di Larino. 

The com­pany, which is cer­ti­fied organic and prac­tices regen­er­a­tive farm­ing, cul­ti­vates these and other native olive vari­eties.

Frantoio, Moraiolo and Leccino com­plete the main orchard com­po­si­tion, which con­tains about 2,000 trees. 

Another 1,200 have been added recently to expand pro­duc­tion and enhance bio­di­ver­sity. In addi­tion to extra vir­gin olive oil, the farm pro­duces aspara­gus and fruit, includ­ing apri­cots, plums and peaches.

“The con­trada of Carpineto, where the Lions are located, is dot­ted with cen­turies-old olive trees,” Travaglini said. ​“Given their age, these groves have an exten­sive plant­ing lay­out. It is an inter­est­ing area with a soil rich in marine remains from pre­his­toric times, where it is still easy to find fos­sil shells.”

“These two majes­tic trees are not only an emblem of our land, they also show how good can beget good,” he added. ​“We are happy to be the first link in a vir­tu­ous chain that has a strong sym­bolic value, as it demon­strates how we all can do much with lit­tle, but above all that out­stand­ing results can be achieved if we act together.”

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